Mutual understanding
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Mutual understanding2 In 1965 Churchman and Schainblatt published their highly influential paper, "The Researcher and the Manager: A Dialectic of Implementation" (Mgmt Sc!.
Vol. 11, No.4, Februaiy 1965, pp. B69B87), in which they pleaded for "mutual understanding" between the (oper-
ational) researcher and the manager.
Mutual
understanding means that the manager understands the
operational researcher well and that the operational researcher has a good understanding of the manager.
The paper stimulated so much discussion that almost a whole issue of Management Science (Vol. 12, No. 2, October 1965) was dedicated to this theme, containing some 14 commentaries on mutual understanding. Mutual understanding between the researcher and the manager Is Important for the successful practice of OR. ForOR Itself, mutual understanding between the different groups, cultures and schools within the OR community is similatly important. From some OR societies one hears about passionate disagreements and heated debates characterizing the exchanges between different groups. There is the everlasting debate on "theory and practice",
sometimes additionally burdened by a completely
different understanding of the role, power, and purpose of theory. There is much discussion about the readability
of the OR journals.
There are controversies about
different education programmes.
Even more
fundamentally, there exist quite different images of OR some consider it as a "subset of mathematics", others in the sense of "model-supported analysis of decisions how to best design and operate man-machine systems". I firmly believe that every living vibrant community has
its controversies and has to have debates about
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OR Insight Vol.2 No. 2AprilJune 1989
Corn rnent conflicting, controversial views. The debates both require certain amounts of mutual understanding and tend to intensify this mutual understanding. Mutual
meetings, and theIr own organizations such that they need not interfere with each other? In order to remain
strong, the OR community relies upon mutual
understanding will keep a community together.
understanding. To intensify such mutual understanding, more open debate of controversial topics, such as those outlined above, will be most important.
Have we in the OR community developed a sufficient
level of mutual understanding between our different groups, cultures and schools? Do we still have enough debate the between different cultures of OR In order to intensify mutual understanding? Or do the different
HEINER MOLLER-MERBACH 2. IFORS Letter from the President, No. 8. August 1983
cultures tend to have their own Journals, their own
Professor HEINER MÜLLER-MERBACH is a former President of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies. He was recently elected e Companion of OR by the OR Sociely.
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